Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Senate Democrat is asking 30 leading technology, Internet and communications companies to provide detailed descriptions of their operations and human rights practices in China.
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois sent letters on Tuesday to technology companies including Apple Inc.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A South Carolina contractor has been found dead at a Nashville tank farm.
Metro Nashville Police say the body of 49-year-old Dan Dugan of Rock Hill, S.C., was found inside a tank at the Ashland Distribution plant on Tuesday.
Nashville Fire Department spokesman Charles Shannon told The Tennesseans Dugan's last entry on his inspection clipboard was at 8:15 a.

Cadbury PLC shareholders have approved Kraft Foods Inc.'s roughly $19.5 billion offer to acquire the British candy maker — the final step in creating the global food giant.
The focus now shifts to how Kraft will combine the companies and prove it was worth the often-bitter fight.
Kraft announced Tuesday that nearly 72 percent of Cadbury shareholders voted in support of the deal.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Toyota was slow to deal with safety problems with its gas pedals, asserting in an interview Tuesday that it took government pressure to force the company to recall millions of its most popular vehicles.
LaHood, in an interview with The Associated Press, defended his department's handling of the Toyota investigation and said the Japanese automaker was "a little safety deaf" during its probe of the problem.

It’s snowing right now in Wisconsin… big surprise.
Two short weeks ago I was jacketless, touching down in Orlando, Florida, to attend the Grainger Total MRO Solutions event for customers and media. To be honest, I think I would have attended a convention where we skinned live, rabid rats, were it held in sunny, 75 degree Florida in the middle of January.

SINGAPORE (AP) — China has overreacted to Washington's approval of a $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan by threatening the companies that produced the weapons, a top U.S. military official said Tuesday.
Bruce Lemkin, a deputy under secretary with the U.S. Air Force, said China shouldn't have been surprised by the arms sale and called on Beijing to continue talks with Taiwan to help reduce tensions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's bid to sell his economic agenda and re-energize voters picks up in politically significant New Hampshire, where he will again promote an idea to free up money for small businesses that are hurting.
Obama travels to Nashua, N.H., on Tuesday to draw attention to a proposal highlighted in his State of the Union address last week: funneling $30 billion to local banks so they can lend small businesses money they need to grow their enterprises and create jobs.

NAGOYA, Japan (AP) — Toyota's fix for the gas pedal problem that led to the recall of millions of cars has not come soon enough to prevent a consumer backlash in the U.S. and elsewhere that is battering its sales.
One of the automaker's top executives on Tuesday said the damage from the global recall of nearly 4.

ATLANTA (AP) — Dozens of victims of last year's nationwide salmonella outbreak will split about $12 million as part of a settlement with the insurer of the company linked to the illnesses.
Atlanta attorney Alan Maxwell said Monday the money comes from an insurance policy that Lynchburg, Va.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Spyker Cars NV, the new owner of Saab, plans to produce three Saab lines and return the troubled Swedish carmaker to profitability by 2012.
"Saab will continue to be repositioned against other brands such as Audi (A4/A6) and BMW (3/5 series) as a premium brand," Spyker said in a statement Tuesday.

HARTFORD, Conn. — Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. announced a billion-dollar venture Monday that it hopes will respond to military demand for technology to fight two wars, including Black Hawk helicopters that can see and fly on their own.
The Stratford-based helicopter maker and military contractor said Sikorsky Innovations is intended to speed the transformation of the mechanical helicopter into a computerized aircraft.

Recently, wireless power has seen resurgence in core technology innovation , as well as the introduction of early products. As a transmission technology that delivers power from a transmission source to an embedded receiver, wireless power creates an understandable desire to standardize this interface such that one can achieve interoperability between a variety of embedded receivers and transmitters.

Heat exchangers are typically employed in the process industries as a means of providing heat transfer between two streams of fluid across a medium. The heat exchanger ensures the conservation of heat energy otherwise known as heat economic operations. They are designed to foster contact between materials in a conduit network, with one material exchanging heat and the other material flowing within the network either counter-currently or co-currently.

Stanley Vidmar (Allentown, PA) has relaunched its vertical lift product, now called the Vidmar Vertical. The automated storage and retrieval system that can manage up to 132,000 lbs of material from the convenience of one computer console. According to the company, use of vertical space is a simple way to save up to 75 percent of a facility’s floor space.

Iwis Drive Systems (Indianapolis, IN) now offers the Elite product range of chains and complete drive solutions for systems that are exposed to harsh conditions, such as dust, dirt, extreme temperatures, and water. The chains feature Iwis' proven design, in addition to special materials and coatings, to withstand extreme environmental conditions.

The new compact gauge valve from Swagelok (Solon, OH) is designed to provide quick andconvenient access for isolating and venting pressure gauges. The gauges can be positioned with tube adapter ends, eliminating threaded connections and leak points. Additional features of the gauge valve include:
A smaller, lightweight footprint that reduces the need for supports, along with a streamlined body that incorporates a purge valve for easy bleeding of trapped fluid pressure.

Bondhus Corporation (Monticello, MN) has added to its line of gold and BriteGuard (silver) plated tools with a full range of inch, metric, and star tools, now available in either finish. According to the manufacturer, a popular purchase is a silver inch set and a gold metric set, to allow easy visual identification of inch or metric tools when in use.

Imagine tackling your greatest production challenge quickly, easily and inexpensively — and even generating a profit while doing so. For businesses and industries that deal with oil separation and removal, the solution does not need to be expensive or inefficient. In fact, the answer may be simpler than you think.

Shat-R-Shield (Salisbury, NC) has recently added the T5 High-Output and High Intensity Discharge lamps to their safety-coated lighting products. The new T5HO fluorescent lamp offers an output of 5,000 lumens in a slim-profile lamp, at only 54 watts. They feature low mercury and are TLCP-compliant, in addition to a 30,000 hour rated lifespan to help reduce maintenance and recycling costs.

The new family of UL-listed and CSA-certified switching power supplies from Wieland (Burgaw, NC) deliver a control voltage of 24V DC, at an output current from 1.25A to 40A. Nine models are available, including six single-phase and three three-phrase, which can function in a temperature range from -25°C to 71°C.